Case C-530/15, Melitta France – card core, hardcore packaging law

Inside a roll of toilet paper is a cardboard core. Does this internal element form part of the toilet paper’s packaging? It is a question which has stymied the French courts. The answer depends on the word ‘packaging’ which is found in the EU’s ‘packaging and packaging waste’ Directive 94/62/EC. If the answer is that the cardboard core does constitute packaging, then potential casualties of the CJEU’s ruling will not just be France’s toilet-paper makers but also France’s manufacturers of absorbent kitchen paper, aluminium foil, and even cling film. However, if the answer is no, then the Conseil d’État would like to know whether the EU Commission has acted ultra vires when enacting an ancilliary packaging Directive that has expanded the definition of ‘packaging’ still further. Many millions of euro are at stake.

Continue reading

Case C-114/15, AUDACE – audacious French farmers buy Spanish veterinary medicinal products

French farmers have been nipping over the Spanish border to go shopping for their veterinary medicinal products. This is not allowed under French law, only French-authorised wholesalers can import veterinary drugs. The French farmers wonder if the internal market exists.

Continue reading

Case C-547/14, Philip Morris Brands – the Second Tobacco Products Directive is invalid

Is the EU’s Second Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU invalid?

Continue reading

Case C-583/12, Sintax Trading – who decides whether imported goods infringe design rights?

For the purposes of the EU’s counterfeit goods Regulation No 1383/2003, who is to decide on whether the design of 64 000 bottles of mouthwash imported into Estonia from Ukraine infringes a registered design in Estonia?

Continue reading